ABSTRACT: RNA-seq was used to define the role of mutant COL11A1 in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) by comparing human cSCC organoids edited to introduce the COL11A1 G598A substitution to organoids edited with an A to T substitution that preserves the native glycine residue while controlling for non-specific editing effects.
Project description:Collagens are the most abundant proteins in the body and comprise the basement membranes and stroma through which cancerous invasion occurs; however, a pro-neoplastic function for mutant collagens is undefined. Here we identify COL11A1 mutations in 66 of 100 cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (cSCCs), the second most common U.S. cancer, concentrated in a triple helical region known to produce trans-dominant collagens. Analysis of COL11A1 and other collagen genes found that they are mutated across common epithelial malignancies. Knockout of mutant COL11A1 impairs cSCC tumorigenesis in vivo. Compared to otherwise genetically identical COL11A1 wild-type tissue, gene-edited mutant COL11A1 skin is characterized by induction of β1 integrin targets and accelerated neoplastic invasion. In mosaic tissue, mutant COL11A1 cells enhanced invasion by neighboring wild-type cells. These results suggest that specific collagens are commonly mutated in cancer and that mutant collagens may accelerate this process.
Project description:Collagen type XI alpha 1 (COL11A1) is identified as one of the most upregulated genes in cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer and recurrent ovarian cancer. However, the exact functions of COL11A1 in cisplatin resistance are unknown. The goal of this study is to determine molecular mechanisms by which COL11A1 confers cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer cells. We overexpressed COL11A1 in A2780 and OVCAR3 ovarian cancer cells, which express very low endogenous levels of COL11A1. We then compared the mRNA expression levels of various genes between COL11A1-overexpressing ovarian cancer cells and control ovarian cancer cells by RNA-Seq. Our RNA-Seq data show that COL11A1 overexpression did not consistently change the expression levels of genes involved in cisplatin efflux, glutathione metabolism, and DNA repair pathways, which are known to contribute to cisplatin resistance. This result implies that COL11A1 might confer cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer cells through other mechanisms.
Project description:Biomarkers that predict disease progression might assist the development of better therapeutic strategies for aggressive cancers, such as ovarian cancer. Here, we investigated the role of collagen type XI alpha 1 (COL11A1) in cell invasiveness and tumor formation and the prognostic impact of COL11A1 expression in ovarian cancer. Microarray analysis suggested that COL11A1 is a disease progression-associated gene that is linked to ovarian cancer recurrence and poor survival.
Project description:Biomarkers that predict disease progression might assist the development of better therapeutic strategies for aggressive cancers, such as ovarian cancer. Here, we investigated the role of collagen type XI alpha 1 (COL11A1) in cell invasiveness and tumor formation and the prognostic impact of COL11A1 expression in ovarian cancer. Microarray analysis suggested that COL11A1 is a disease progression-associated gene that is linked to ovarian cancer recurrence and poor survival. Whole tumor gene expression profiling was conducted on tissue samples from 60 ovarian cancer patients, and characteristics and clinico-pathological features of the patients are provided. We used several steps to analyze the expression profiles of the samples to identify the genes whose expression values correlate with survival, recurrence and advanced disease stage. First, using hazard ratios from univariate Cox regression analysis, the top 200 survival-related genes were evaluated for intersection with the top 200 recurrence-related genes, and 44 genes were obtained. Second, we examined the 44 genes that met the criteria of fold-change values between advanced stage and early stage samples of greater than 2 or less than 0.5. Ultimately, 17 genes were identified. A heat map of the 17 genes is depicted in the associated publication. Gene ontology and pathway enrichment analyses of the 17 genes were performed using Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID). The major cellular component, biological process and molecular function of the 17 genes are associated with the extracellular region, intracellular signaling cascade, and protein binding and bridging, respectively. Two genes, COL11A1 and COL4A6, are involved in ECM-receptor interaction pathways. Notably, COL11A1 displayed the highest fold-change value in ovarian cancer disease progression; therefore, we selected COL11A1 for further experimental analysis.
Project description:Collagen type XI alpha 1 (COL11A1) is a novel biomarker associated with cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer. However, the mechanisms underlying how COL11A1 confers cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer are poorly understood. We identified that fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) is upregulated by COL11A1 in ovarian cancer cells and that COL11A1-driven cisplatin resistance can be abrogated by inhibition of FAO. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that COL11A1 also enhances the expression of proteins involved in fatty acid synthesis. Interestingly, COL11A1-induced upregulation of fatty acid synthesis and FAO is modulated by the same signaling molecules. We identified that binding of COL11A1 to its receptors, α1β1 integrin and discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2), activates Src-Akt-AMPK signaling to increase the expression of both fatty acid synthesis and oxidation enzymes, although DDR2 seems to be the predominant receptor. Inhibition of fatty acid synthesis downregulates FAO despite the presence of COL11A1, suggesting that fatty acid synthesis might be a driver of FAO in ovarian cancer cells. Taken together, our results suggest that COL11A1 upregulates fatty acid metabolism in ovarian cancer cells in a DDR2-Src-Akt-AMPK dependent manner. Therefore, we propose that blocking FAO might serve as a promising therapeutic target to treat ovarian cancer, particularly cisplatin-resistant recurrent ovarian cancers which typically express high levels of COL11A1.